Gove warns parents it’s ‘wrong’ to take holidays in term time

Mr Gove was speaking as Parliament prepared to debate a petition calling for action to stop holiday companies “cashing in” by ramping up prices during the school holidays.

The Education Secretary said that parents should instead lobby their schools to change their term dates to allow pupils to go on holiday at different times, as the coalition Government has given them the ability to do.

He highlighted David Young Community Academy in Leeds as a successful example of this.

And he said that the holiday industry should “look at itself in the mirror” and ask whether it was doing enough to help its customers.

“It’s wrong to take children out of school when they should be at school because it’s important that we make sure that children learn,” said Mr Gove.

“If we are worried about people being hard-pressed and facing economic tough times, the answer to that is to make sure that our country as a whole is better educated and more competitive, and it doesn’t help anyone if you take your children out of school during term time.”

Meanwhile, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills defended the companies, pointing out that they face fierce competition for flights and hotel rooms during peak periods and insisting that it was “for business to decide the market worth of their products and to price accordingly”.

The issue has been selected for debate in Westminster Hall at the House of Commons after an e-petition demanding “guilt-free family time” for parents secured 170,000 signatures on the Government’s own website.

Created by Donna Thresher, the petition said: “Family time is so much more essential in the current working world, but so many people cannot afford holidays in school holidays. A break at home is not the same as getting away from it all where there isn’t any house work or DIY to get done, instead focus is on family.”